The book that inspired Aziz Ansari's 'Master of None' shows how having too many options is screwing us up

In "Master of None," it takes Aziz Ansari's character so long to decide on where to get the best tacos, the truck is all out.Netflix

In Barry Schwartz's seminal book, "The Paradox of Choice," we learn that while choice is a vital part of autonomy and fundamental to our well-being, too much choice has a cost, and our obsession with it contributes to bad decisions, anxiety, stress, dissatisfaction, and even depression.

The book is a clear influence on Aziz Ansari's new Netflix series, "Master of None," where we see numerous scenes of Ansari's character, Dev, the quintessential millennial, virtually paralyzed by choice, from choosing the best tacos to finding the ideal mate.

Ansari has a deep understanding of the modern tyranny of choice — he coauthored the book "Modern Romance" in July with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg about, in part, how today's proliferation of choices has a profound effect on our lives, and especially how we find love, and he interviews Schwartz about this conundrum.

In the book Ansari notes that it was quicker for his dad to find a wife 30 years ago — his father decided to marry his mother in an arranged marriage after briefly meeting with her and two other women — than it is for him to decide where to eat dinner.

"Whether it's where I'm eating, where I'm traveling, or, God forbid, something I'm buying, like a lot of people in my generation — those in their 20s and 30s — I feel compelled to do a ton of research to make sure I'm getting every option and then making the best choice," Ansari writes in a Time adaptation of his book, "Modern Romance."

Today's perils of choice come from every direction — almost every part of daily life requires us to choose. Here are some of the ways too many options mess with us, according to "The Paradox of Choice:"

Whenever you choose one thing, you're also choosing not to do other things that could be just as good.

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One of the problems with having too many options before us is that each one comes with its trade-offs, Schwartz says, and trade-offs have psychological consequences.

When there are lots of alternatives to consider, it's easy to imagine the attractive features of the alternatives you reject.

"The necessity of making trade-offs alters how we feel about the decisions we face; more important, it affects the level of satisfaction we experience from the decisions we ultimately make," he writes.

Greater choice makes us fantasize about a better option out there.

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When there are multiple alternatives, Schwartz says, it's also easy for us to imagine alternatives that don't actually exist and are a combination of the attractive features of the alternatives that do exist. We've essentially created greater expectations than we could possibly meet.

"To the extent that we engage our imaginations in this way, we will be even less satisfied with the alternative we end up choosing," he writes. Greater variety in this way actually makes us feel worse off.

More options lead to greater regret.

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Even if you've made a good decision, Schwartz says, when your choice isn't perfect, knowing there were alternatives out there makes it easy to imagine you could have made a better choice.

This leads you to regret the decision you made, which leads to dissatisfaction, even if it was a good decision.

Too many options can lead us to make bad decisions.

The emotional cost of potential trade-offs also interferes with the quality of decisions we make, Schwartz says. When we feel bad about choosing, we begin to lose focus and instead of examining all aspects of a decision, we home in on a couple of aspects, some that might not be that important.

Our negative emotions associated with having to choose can also distract us from the decision itself, Schwartz says, which impairs our decision-making abilities.

People don't like feeling bad about their decisions, which can lead to paralysis of action.

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People tend to resist making decisions when there are so many trade-offs, which can lead to postponing or avoiding making the decision,Schwartz says.

This may not be so serious when you're choosing which new smartphone to buy, but it can have detrimental affects on your future when choosing which retirement savings plan to settle on.

The conflict that comes from too many choices can also cause paralysis.

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Schwartz points to numerous studies that found when there are two options with a clear winner, most people made a decision — but when people are presented with options involving trade-offs that create conflict, all choices begin to look unappealing, and people are less likely to make a decision.

An abundance of choices leaves less time to make the right decision.

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"Nobody has the time or cognitive resources to be completely thorough and accurate with every decision, and as more decisions are required and more options are available, the challenge of doing the decision making correctly becomes ever more difficult to meet,"Schwartz writes.

People who always want the best option are often more depressed than people who settle.

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InSchwartz's study of people who always look for the best option, whom he calls maximizers, compared with people who are OK settling for something that's good enough, whom he calls satisficers, he found maximizers experienced less satisfaction with life, were less happy, were less optimistic, and were more depressed than satisficers.

WhileSchwartz notes that the study finding does not mean being a maximizer causes unhappiness, he personally believes that being a maximizer plays a causal role in people's unhappiness.

Choosing takes time, a precious commodity we often have so little of.

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Schwartz says preparing for, making, reevaluating, and perhaps regretting the vastly greater number of choices we have today eats up one of our most valuable resources: time.

"Time spent dealing with choice is time taken away from being a good friend, a good spouse, a good parent, and a good congregant," he says.

It's been more than 10 years since Schwartz wrote his book, and since then technology has come a long way — but the core message remains the same.

"It seems to me that the most striking trend is the appearance of social media,"Schwartztold Pacific Mag last year. "My suspicion is that it and dating sites have created just the thing I talk about in connection with consumer goods: Nobody's good enough and you're always worried you're missing out."

Though the concept behind FOMO is fundamental to the paradox of choice, and indeed our human existence, the term itself is a millennial invention brought about by social media.

"Nobody makes plans because something better might turn up, and the result is that nobody ever does anything,"Schwartz says.